http://entertainthis.usatoday.com/2014/10/23/when-prince-blew-off-we-are-the-world-things-soured-for-him/

Right about now 30 years ago, Prince could do no wrong.

His mega-selling album Purple Rain was riding atop the charts (it stayed at number one from Aug 4., 1984 until January 1985), and the movie based on the album, released in July 1984, finished as the year’s 11th highest grossing film.

But not long after Purple Rain dropped out of the No. 1 position in early 1985, things started to go south for His Royal Badness, and it all stemmed from a fateful decision to not take part in the recording of We Are the World, the mega-selling charity single that raised millions to fight famine in Africa.

The wave of negative press that followed deeply damaged his career, according to Let’s Go Crazy: Prince and the Making of Purple Rain (Atria), an upcoming book by music journalist Alan Light. (It goes on sale Dec. 9.)

Medium’s Cuepoint published a long excerpt from the book today that’s well worth the 16-minute reading time.

“I believe that moment is what made people ambivalent about his greatness. When you get negative press going, you need twenty years for people to stop reflecting on it. And if guys like Springsteen or whoever are talking about how great he is, like they used to, it would add to the legend. But instead, everybody kind of backed off …” — Bob Cavallo, Prince’s former manager.

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[Edited 10/24/14 11:35am]

bashraka said:

http://entertainthis.usatoday.com/2014/10/23/when-prince-blew-off-we-are-the-world-things-soured-for-him/

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Why link to a lame clickbait excerpt when you can simply link to the actual article?

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And I'm gonna ask again: when is this upcoming book worthy of a sticky and a front page mention? It's certainly far more interesting than most of the "news" items currently on the front page.

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[Edited 10/24/14 12:51pm]

I don't neccessarily agree. Yes there was a huge backlash but Prince wasn't going to stay at the white hot level of Purple Rain anyway. Particularly because he didn't really want to. He could have released 2 or 3 more singles off of PR, waited a year or two before releasing another album but that is not how the Purple Yoda operates. The ego, Chick, all that was coming across at the same time as We are the World. It was a bad decision and one that elicited mockery (the Billy Crystal SNL skit was priceless in a cruel way) but EVERY supermegastar comes down to Earth eventually. They either settle down to the level of being a mere celebirty or they disappear and if they hang around long enough they become a legend, as Prince has. If P had wanted a gigantic follow-up to PR he could have made one but that was not where he was at. Even if he did try to reach the level, it wouldn't have been as big anyway.

Not appearing on "We Are The World" was absolutely the right thing to do for Prince, as it would have been him pandering to industry bullshit and being just another pawn in MJ, Lionel and Quincy's master plan. And I say that as a huge MJ fan.

Plus, Prince was a global star at this point, and nobody outside the USA gave a single fuck that he didn't appear on a charity song.

Final point - "4 The Tears In Your Eyes" is a better song than "We Are The World", anyway.

robertgeorgeakabob said:

Here in UK I don't remember anybody giving a shit about it. In fact he was respected for his integrity in not taking part in the back-slapping wankfest.

Exactly.

The whole "We Are The World" thing was considered quite cheesy and lame here, so Prince not participating actually worked in his favor. He maintained credibility by not participating.

ufoclub said:

The world did turn on him. I can confirm that everyone I knew in high school and their parents were talking shit about Prince after this bad press came out. And tons of people never got back into him and kept a negative feeling in their head about him being arrogant and selfish. Him keeping a low profile on his charity work (which was extensive in my opinion) didn't help. This was like him having a blowout A race. Sure he could replace the tire, but it killed the pop momentum he had going with mainstream folk.

Prince WANTED to kill the pop momentum after Purple Rain.

Let's look at the facts:

1) He put the knife into the Purple Rain momentum himself by ending the Purple Rain tour in the USA, not taking it abroad, and releasing ATWIAD days after the tour ended.

2) He didn't want to release singles from ATWIAD. The album was sent to radio stations with instructions to "play whatever you want". Radio programmers have always had to be spoon-fed. So they played nothing. Prince KNEW this would happen. Warner Brothers freaked out, and forced him to release Raspberry Beret as a single and shoot a video for it.

3) Rolling Stone wanted him on the cover. Again he didn't want to do it. They ended up using a low resolution screengrab from the Raspberry Beret video on the cover of their magazine!

4) He told Warners that he didn't want to do any promotion for the album.

5) He chose not to use a picture of himself on the album cover, only the second time in his career after 1999 that he'd done this.

I mean, there was never any chance he would go to that session. He was at a point where he didn't want any publicity for his OWN records, why on earth would he participate in a celebrity extravaganza orchestrated by his rival?

^^ It is true.....Prince deliberately tried to alientate the mainstream audience who became fans in 1984 I think,by 1985,he was either bored,or possibly disgusted by the level of fame he had achieved,lol.

I remember,after the song was recorded,I saw a news blurb on MTV and some artist who was on the song (can't remember who it was) was asked by the journalist why Prince wasn't there.This artist replied "Prince thought it was more important to be supervising his bodyguards while they beat up someone who was trying to take his picture"

There were alot of ugly comments like that and it did create a small backlash for Prince,unfortunately.And then there was Billy Crystal "I Am The World" skit on SNL.

I've never heard anybody complaining he didn't do We are the world.

It's actually pretty scary that people force someone to do charity to stay popular.

Alot of people forget that Prince did contribute a song to the album ("4 The Tears In Your Eyes") which proved that he supported the cause.That should have been enough.

Militant said:

ufoclub said:

The world did turn on him. I can confirm that everyone I knew in high school and their parents were talking shit about Prince after this bad press came out. And tons of people never got back into him and kept a negative feeling in their head about him being arrogant and selfish. Him keeping a low profile on his charity work (which was extensive in my opinion) didn't help. This was like him having a blowout A race. Sure he could replace the tire, but it killed the pop momentum he had going with mainstream folk.

Prince WANTED to kill the pop momentum after Purple Rain.

Let's look at the facts:

1) He put the knife into the Purple Rain momentum himself by ending the Purple Rain tour in the USA, not taking it abroad, and releasing ATWIAD days after the tour ended.

2) He didn't want to release singles from ATWIAD. The album was sent to radio stations with instructions to "play whatever you want". Radio programmers have always had to be spoon-fed. So they played nothing. Prince KNEW this would happen. Warner Brothers freaked out, and forced him to release Raspberry Beret as a single and shoot a video for it.

3) Rolling Stone wanted him on the cover. Again he didn't want to do it. They ended up using a low resolution screengrab from the Raspberry Beret video on the cover of their magazine!

4) He told Warners that he didn't want to do any promotion for the album.

5) He chose not to use a picture of himself on the album cover, only the second time in his career after 1999 that he'd done this.

I mean, there was never any chance he would go to that session. He was at a point where he didn't want any publicity for his OWN records, why on earth would he participate in a celebrity extravaganza orchestrated by his rival?

What about these factors?

1. Putting out an album right on the heels of a successful tour = trying to cash in on popular momentum.

2. Regardless of rumor, there were singles off of Around the World in a Day, including airplay of Pop Life, 12" mix releases, and videos on MTV for Raspberry Beret and America. He also attempted to go right into production of another Hollywood movie with tie-in album with a big release planned the following year.

3. He actually went through with a surprisingly revealing and intrusive multipage interview in Rolling Stone to try to be more mainstream friendly AFTER the We are the World incident. Before that he never seemed to do any interviews. But after this he even did the MTV contest for Under the Cherry Moon to try to seem more down to earth and fan friendly. I think you are completely misinterpreting what that Rolling Stone interview meant regardless of the cover. As a Prince fan we were readng this interview out loud to each other it was the very first peek at his real world, and he made it so.

4. He told Warners he didn't want to do promotion AFTER the We are the World incident occured, it seemed he wanted to tread very lightly as a reaction. His negative publicity was refreshed when that single and video came out and was quite popular.

5. He made a permanent apology about the incident and then even quickly scrambled together a music video and quick take on the song "4 The Tears in Your Eyes" that wa spushed for a premiere during the USA for Africa concerts.

6. The artwork for the album Around the World in Day is completely Prince branded with hints of his hairstyles, costumes, his guitar, and who is that in the white hooded robe? We always thought that was Prince on the cover.

But the biggest fact is that the headline of this thread is undisputably true. If you were a teenager who was into pop music and MTV at the time and saw that Prince had become a household name after Purple Rain, then seen how regular people talked about him after the bad press... you would know! Basically I'd heard everyone backlashing on him. And most of them never changed their mind.

I don't remember people caring that much. If the internet were around, I'm sure it would have dragged on for weeks. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

NuPwrSoul said:

I don't remember people caring that much. If the internet were around, I'm sure it would have dragged on for weeks. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Me neither. This idea that it was The Day That..... is one of those neat oversimplifications that would-be historians come up with. He did get negative press but he had some before and after, just like he had good press afterward too. Musically, he deliberately did NOT release PR II -- he chose to release something that would throw a curve, and even more so with Parade. ATWIAD and Parade did more to turn off "the World", and who could forget Under the Cherry Moon? Now that was a debacle -- he had been criticized for his antics with his bodyguards and acting all mysterious at award shows, but by the time UTCM bombed, he had gained a well-deserved reputation for what appeared to be self-indulgence.

At the time, it felt like Prince was doing everything to appeal to a less mainstream, smaller and more sophisticated audience. It's like he didn't want to see 12 year olds with their mom in the audience so he dismayed them with psychedelia, songs with long piano intros, records that started with several short tracks that could never be singles.

It's just neat to think the backlash all started on one day

Aerogram said:

NuPwrSoul said:

I don't remember people caring that much. If the internet were around, I'm sure it would have dragged on for weeks. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Me neither. This idea that it was The Day That..... is one of those neat oversimplifications that would-be historians come up with. He did get negative press but he had some before and after, just like he had good press afterward too. Musically, he deliberately did NOT release PR II -- he chose to release something that would throw a curve, and even more so with Parade. ATWIAD and Parade did more to turn off "the World", and who could forget Under the Cherry Moon? Now that was a debacle -- he had been criticized for his antics with his bodyguards and acting all mysterious at award shows, but by the time UTCM bombed, he had gained a well-deserved reputation for what appeared to be self-indulgence.

At the time, it felt like Prince was doing everything to appeal to a less mainstream, smaller and more sophisticated audience. It's like he didn't want to see 12 year olds with their mom in the audience so he dismayed them with psychedelia, songs with long piano intros, records that started with several short tracks that could never be singles.

It's just neat to think the backlash all started on one day

Exactly! I like Alan Light and trust his journalism on Prince, but I do feel like he is reaching here. And I agree it is the tendency of some who write history to find *that turning point*. If there were one (and it there most certainly was not just ONE), I am not convinced this was it, for all the reasons you gave.

What I remember is everyone who wasnt already worshipping at the purple altar getting really turned off by Prince's "attitude" at the AMAs prior to We Are the World. He won one of the first awards of the night, walked up to the stage, said thank you and left. My mother looked at me and said, "He's an asshole! Who does he think he is?" and I heard that repeatedly, for weeks after by other non purple heads. When he finally gave a speech, it was too late. All anyone remembered was his "I'm better than all of you!" persona (he had his bodyguard escort him to the stage, like he was the president...or the pope; entourages are big now, but you didnt see stuff like that in 1985). Ditching We Are the World and Chick beating up the photographer that night was "Exhibit B" and added fuel to the fire, but his attitude at the AMAs was the true turnoff.

[Edited 10/25/14 0:14am]

The mass appeal that Prince enjoyed during the Purple Rain era was destined for a short shelf-life. His predecessor was Michael Jackson, who kind of established the template for a blockbuster recording artist, and on a certain level MJ's image was very safe in ways Prince's wasn't especially in terms of sexuality. MJ may have been a household name, but Prince was a bedroom name--to be whispered under a red light.

MJ challenged conventional sexuality in his own way, but for the most part, presented his sexuality as a repressed one, which perfectly fit the 80s conservatism of the Ronald "I know people are dying of AIDS but I'm not going to say or do anything about it" Reagan.

Prince, on the other hand, was MJ's foil, the rude boy to MJ's sexual politics of respectability. When Tipper Gore released the top ten offenders in her quest to clean the music industry, Prince had three songs on the list: Darlin Nikki (at number one), Sugar Walls, and Sister. The Time's If the Kid Can't Make You Cum had an honorable mention.

I'm not saying that his antics didn't piss off the industry's sense of camaraderie, so maybe the industry turned on Prince. But "the world"? I remain unconvinced.

The SNL video:

http://www.dailymotion.co...n-mr-t_fun

[Edited 10/25/14 3:15am]

I can see it being an ego/social anxiety thing in not doing it, but he could've just bit the bullet and joined in for that, what, one evening of recording? Who knows he might've enjoyed the experience and been part of something he'd look back on fondly in the future. It wasn't really a big deal was it, it was just a P.R. bumble.

Any backlash was media created, I mean this is what they do - build people up and then rip them down. If it wasn't this it would've been something else, the dude is a weirdo so it was always going to be something about his appearance or ego or snotty attitude, whatever.

LeRoy said:

The SNL video:

http://www.dailymotion.co...n-mr-t_fun

[Edited 10/25/14 3:15am]

Hilarious! Julia Dreyfus makes a great Lisa and the whole thing is a hoot.

The sketch illustrates the poor impression his whole grando mysterioso public persona gone opulent pseudo royalty backfired at award shows. As a fan watching TV back then, I knew he was trying to cultivate an air of mystery and it was definitely more a public relation thing than a reflection of his true self, but the public did not see it that way.

Maybe adults and music insiders thougth it was a terrible move and disrespectful of him. Kids (I was in jr high at the time), absolutlely did not care and we were the ones (kids) buying the majority of the albums.

I can remember being disappointed that he wasn't on it, but still loving him all the same. People who were not around for the Purple Rain hype just don't know. If you were in jr high or high school during this time, Purple Rain was everything.

I didn't even know he contributed a song for the project till I was an adult. I begged for Purple Rain for Christmas. I bought every album afterwards with my own money. I never bought We are the World.

robertgeorgeakabob said:

Here in UK I don't remember anybody giving a shit about it. In fact he was respected for his integrity in not taking part in the back-slapping wankfest.

His absence did not raise any eyebrows here. It was a lame song anyway.

I honestly don't remember ANYONE caring that Prince wasn't a part of We Are The World. Not anyone that I knew and talked to about music.

I don't know if I thought about it back then, but since when is guilting or shaming someone into performing charity appropriate? Anyone who had a problem with Prince not performing on We Are The World should have been concentrating on their own charitable endeavors. Just because everyone else is doing it? Is that how it works now?

Besides, Prince might have just donated to the United Way or Red Cross!

It was all media hype!

Prince's achievements after this event demonstrate that if his actions caused any damage to his career it was minimal. It was Nothing Compared to Sinead O’Connor’s career-killing pope picture-ripping event in SNL. (no pun intended, sic)

If we believe Prince, the song "Hello" explained his position on the issue.

[Edited 10/25/14 7:01am]

Here's what Saturday Night Live had to say about it at the time:

[img:$uid]http://img.phot.../img:$uid]

http://www.dailymotion.co...n-mr-t_fun